


Sharing is Caring, Not a Permanent Solution

by RisuAlto



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Magic, Sharing a Grimoire, Spell Creation, Trying to write the names Dannith and Aloth one after the other for several paragraphs was a Time, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-08 13:02:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21476434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RisuAlto/pseuds/RisuAlto
Summary: It’s not that Dannith wasn’t interested in getting to know his fellow wizard.  It’s just that the timing couldn’t have been worse, given an impending fight and only one grimoire between them.  They make do.
Relationships: Aloth Corfiser & The Watcher
Kudos: 7
Collections: Pillars of Eternity Prompts Weekly





	Sharing is Caring, Not a Permanent Solution

**Author's Note:**

> For prompt #0003, "Grimoire."
> 
> Dannith is a meadow folk wizard from Aedyr with high Rational and Benevolent reputations. The similarities between him and Aloth were too good to pass up. He was created by [classhattery](https://classhattery.tumblr.com).

Dannith crossed his arms with a huff as he surveyed the remains of the camp. His mouth watered uncomfortably thanks to a the mixed scents of salt, sweat, and smoke. The grass was trampled where it was still green, and where it wasn’t, scorch marks and small trails of flame marked the ground, a map of where the campfire had been scattered. Golden-red sunlight filtered through the autumn leaves overhead, so warm in color that Dannith had been at first afraid the whole clearing caught flame. Bedrolls and packs laid in such disarray that if not for the fact that only valuables were missing, the whole thing might have been easily mistaken for the results of a careless animal stampede.

“I’m sorry, Watcher, I am!” Kana held out his hands placatingly as he spoke. “I only meant to look away for a second, but then, over in the shadows, I saw some—”

“Exactly what they wanted you to see,” snapped Pallegina. “_Merla._ I should have stayed.”

From the other side of the clearing, Sagani spoke up, though she kept low to the ground, investigating something together with Itumaak. “No sense worrying about what we could’ve done,” she said. “But Itumaak might’ve picked up a trail, for what it’s worth.”

Calming breaths washed through Dannith as he realized that, of course, Sagani was right. Furthermore, it would help no one for him to become angry now. He bit his lip to steady himself and began thinking, more clearly than before. 

“Yeah, and how much exactly _is_ it worth?” Dannith glanced up and over his shoulder to see Edér holding his pipe just a few inches from his lips, twisted to one side in thought. “’Cause if it’s all the same to the rest of ya, I’d just like to get this scroll business done and finished with. We can always find more coin back in the city.”

Pallegina scoffed. “And let the thieves get away with not even a slap on the wrist?”

As Dannith reached out a placating hand, he nearly struck someone in the side when Aloth wordlessly rushed forwards to search his own belongings. “Edér _might_,” Dannith said slowly as Aloth passed, looking meaningfully at Pallegina, “have a point. I want to know what they took, first.”

“Of course!” Kana agreed, hurrying to join Aloth near the packs with a set to his posture that was both serious and earnest. “Let’s see…”

“You do… still have the scroll, right, Watcher?” Edér asked, coming to face Dannith. 

The Watcher nodded, patting a small tube on his waist. It was normally reserved for emergency healing scrolls, but the object of their current quest had fit so well (_ha_) that he’d handed the scroll in that case off to Aloth. “Yes,” he said after a second, noticing that Edér’s eyes still shimmered with concern. He lowered his voice and added, “Don’t worry. We’ll get it where it needs to go.”

Edér nodded and turned his attention towards the group examining their losses.

After a minute, Pallegina huffed, reaching out to snatch her bedroll’s cover and put it in order, and Kana sat back on his heels. “It looks like they just took some spare weapons and gems,” he said, smiling brightly.

“And all of the coin we left with you,” Pallegina huffed. Her normally cerise lips were pressed almost pastel pink from the force of her frown as she admitted, “But yes, Watcher. Though it may take a _considerable _amount of time, it looks like they only took things that can be replaced.”

Relief gently worked its way through Dannith’s shoulders as he exhaled slowly. “Alright,” he said, scanning his friends. “Then I say we— Aloth?” Brown eyes fell on his fellow wizard, who had yet to rise from his crouch next to his satchel and bedroll.

The elf was tense, methodically repeating the same search of his belongings that he had begun only a few minutes before, yet not finding whatever he was looking for. The task was apparently so absorbing that he didn’t react whatsoever to suddenly becoming the focus of all attention in the camp. Instead, Aloth set his bags aside, breath held, then lifted his pillow. Next, his focus turned to the blanket, which was turned over, then folded with an almost _angry_ edge that reminded Dannith of combat more than passive investigation.

Finally, Aloth’s weight shifted forward from the balls of his feet onto his knees as he sat down, sweeping a few strands of loose ebony hair back into place. “It wasn’t just… _spare_ weapons. That they took.” His voice seemed to have become trapped in a higher, breathless pitch as he spoke, and his fingers smoothed across his brow as though swiping the same hair back a second, then a third time.

A brief mental inventory of Aloth’s equipped gear was all it took for Dannith to realize what was missing. “They took your grimoire?” he asked, hoping against the evidence that Aloth would say no.

He nodded instead, eyes pinched shut in frustration. Kana gasped, a soft _oh_ dropping into the air as his brow furrowed and chin fell. A few of the others—Dannith wasn’t looking for who—also sighed, and Aloth let his shoulders droop, tightly closed fists coming to rest atop his thighs as he leaned forward.

“Well,” said Dannith, “shit.” Aloth flinched but said nothing else. Dannith’s hand moved to run along the corner of his own grimoire where it was safely holstered.

“Come on, then,” said Sagani, clapping Kana and Aloth on the shoulder when a minute passed with no movemnt. A streak of silver circled around her ankles once before Itumaak returned to sniff a trampled path in the grass with avid interest. “Even Itumaak can’t hold their scent forever if we don’t get a move on.” Sagani secured her things and, with an affectionate tap to her fox’s head, set about following the trail.

Next to move was Kana, who grabbed his pack and followed Sagani eagerly, obviously pleased to have a direction. “Yes,” he said, “let’s hurry and follow them!”

“_Di verus_.” Though Pallegina’s pupils were well concealed even when her back was not turned, something about the tone of her voice conveyed an eye roll of such impatience that Dannith himself felt chastised.

Edér followed soon after, steps hurried as they vanished into the forest again. “Better get a move on, then!” he called as he passed. 

Catching up with them seemed only natural to Dannith, but Aloth had yet to move at all. He was slouched forward, tense to the point that it looked uncomfortable. Dannith moved to one side and crouched down, noticing now that Aloth’s blue eyes were fixed on something in the distance, off in the direction their companions had started moving, and that they shone weakly with shock.

“Are you alright?” Dannith asked. 

“Yes, I…” Aloth shook his head slightly, leaning back and seeming to try and regain control of his body. It was an odd reversal, Dannith noted with a slight chuckle. Usually _he_ was the one shaking himself back to consciousness, and Aloth was the onlooker. “You all don’t… have to do this. I know Edér wants to hurry back to Defiance Bay, and Pallegina and Sagani need to move on—”

“Hey,” said Dannith, “it’s fine. It’s better if we get your grimoire back now than to be effectively down a spellcaster until we can get to a city or the keep.”

A sigh passed Aloth’s lips as he stood up and brushed himself off. “Well, for the moment, there’s not much I can do to assist you,” he said, bright with forced calm though he remained tense and couldn’t keep the disappointment off his face for more than a few moments. He turned away slightly, looking over to where the Watcher’s seemingly-bottomless pack for spare weapons _should_ be. “It’s a shame they took all of the spares. If they had left even one, none of this would be necessary…”

Even as he spoke, Dannith noticed the way Aloth wrinkled his nose, put off by the prospect of having to use someone else’s notations for his spellcasting. Memories (his own, thankfully) eclipsed Dannith’s attention—those of spending long hours alone in the candlelight, listening to rain cascade across the roof and windows, pillows and shelves casting familiar shadows across the desk, and hands smudged with ink and stiff from the tension of drawing too many small sigils. He recalled fondly the first time he had been able to open the grimoire to the right page with one try, just from knowing the way the pages felt under his fingers. It felt, for the first time, like it was really _his_.

Notation systems were personal, but they were hardly the central pillar of ownership, of _connection_.

“Even if we had spare books, ink, and coin,” Dannith said firmly, running a hand through the curls atop his head, “it’s not really easy to replace a _grimoire_, is it?” The question hung in the air for a second as Aloth flushed, apparently embarrassed at having been seen through. Eventually, Dannith straightened up to his full height and continued, “But, ah, you did have a point about being handicapped for the moment, and I don’t think we’re just going to be able to ask the bandits nicely to give back our things. Pallegina _might _be able to scare them, but…”

Lines of tension returned to Aloth’s posture as he turned back to face Dannith, hands folded neatly in front of him. His face was drawn into a disappointed frown. “I’m sorry, but—”

Dannith waved his hands smoothly. “No, no, don’t be sorry,” he said. “I was just going to suggest... for _just_ this once, maybe we could share?” He braced his grimoire with one hand for emphasis.

“What?” The shock of the question seemed to knock Aloth back a step.

“It’s not a permanent solution, by any means, but it might serve for the moment. I know our grimoires aren’t exactly the same, but the last time I saw yours, it didn’t seem so different that I couldn’t understand, so maybe that works both ways?” Dannith breathed. “If, ah, you want to,” he added, stepping back.

“That…” Aloth inhaled deeply, but stepped closer again, examining the closed grimoire in Dannith’s grip as though seeing through its cover and into the pages. “My casting time would likely be much slower, but… I suppose it could work. Just this once.”

A determined smile crossed Dannith’s lips, and he held out his hand. “Alright, well, come on then,” he said. “We’d better catch up.”

* * *

One could say many things about Itumaak (and, if one happened to be a scruffy ex-soldier from the Dyrwood, such things would be mostly complimentary), but an accusation of being a less than superior tracker was not one of them. Sagani, of course, was used to this, and dismissed it merely with a soft, warm murmur of appreciation when it only took the better part of two hours to catch up with the thieves. On the other hand, the rest of the party was halted by surprise while still almost completely out in the open, not truly able to camouflage their predominantly silvery armor amidst the scarlet and gold forest.

It certainly worked in their favor that the group of bandits clearly wasn’t expecting anything like an artic fox’s nose to try and follow them, since they had made no effort to cover their tracks nor hide themselves. Dannith also had been able to see the trail once Sagani pointed to it once. But there was hardly time to inform the bandits of their poor survival tactics because Edér and Pallegina were immediately leaping towards them from either side. 

Regret, at least a sliver of it, caught in Dannith’s throat as he considered the possibility that they _might_ have just been able to verbally maneuver through this. However, the notion was squashed when, instead of reacting with fear or adequate shock at having been followed and overtaken, the bandits responded with snarling cries and quickly brandished weapons.

A pike brandished gracelessly by the leader caught Eder’s armor on one side, and he staggered, but remained unhurt. Still, in the next moments, the booming cadences of Kana’s chanting began to overtake the makeshift battlefield and cocoon the party, a familiar shield. Dannith recognized the chant as one that was purely defensive, though the exact words faded into the background as he flipped open his grimoire and began invoking a _spirit shield_ for further protection. From somewhere behind him, Itumaak tore forward and tackled one of Pallegina’s assailants. An arrow followed the fox, lodging itself neatly under the man’s kneecap.

Aloth, at first, stood behind Dannith and simply cast low level missile spells he knew almost by heart, as their enemies predictably swarmed towards the party’s front line. Edér was holding three at bay while Itumaak sat on one and Pallegina calmly (but terrifyingly) defended against the remaining two. But, as Dannith released a _call to slumber_ spell and watched as the man on the ground plus two others fell unconscious, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

The fight was clearly not going in favor of the bandits. In fact, at least two of them would be dead by now if Dannith hadn’t previously given the order to, “seriously injure or knock unconscious,” but not kill. Despite this, the leader who remained in melee with Edér had yet to break a sweat, smiling dangerously.

Something struck Dannith’s side, and the world fell silent. He dropped forward as a crossbow bolt sailed neatly through his abdomen, tearing his robes and pinning a now-bloodied piece of them into the dirt. A cry burst from his throat (and somewhere, as his sense of hearing crashed back to him, he heard someone else shout in distress), but the pain was so intense that Dannith hardly heard himself, and only faintly realized his grimoire was missing from his grasp. Both hands snapped to his wound, trying desperately to stave off any manner of damage.

From the way his vision was swimming and his entire stomach now felt like it was combusting at once, it was easy to guess the bolt had been poisoned, badly. 

“Hey!”

“_Fye_, ye coxfither!”

“Watcher! Pallegina—”

“I’m a bit busy!”

“Itumaak, knock him down!”

Minor quakes in the ground that Dannith thought might just have been trembling muscles quickly grew until he finally made out the familiar sounds of Kana’s summoning chant. It was still hard to focus, but he made out the distinct, bony construction of several skeletons that advanced towards Pallegina. She swore venomously as one attacker’s dagger glanced off her arm and restarted an incantation to lay hands on herself. The air over Dannith’s head crackled pleasantly with arcane shockwaves as Aloth finally managed to cast something else—_that’s where the grimoire went—_and Itumaak faithfully went tearing in the direction of the hidden bandit.

It was almost enough to make Dannith relax. He hated being knocked down, but his team—his friends—could handle it, and holding himself up out of the dirt was _exhausting_.

“Come on, Watcher.” Aloth’s voice was so close to his ear that Dannith jumped, jarring one shoulder slightly. However, the pain of the collision was rapidly overwritten by a balmy stream of healing energy that surged through Dannith’s chest and into his stomach, magically sealing the wound closed. The ground sparkled, letting off a few final wisps of blue steam that clung to him and Pallegina, who finished the healing job herself and threw the bolt that had struck her to the ground disdainfully.

“Shit.” Dannith pulled his hands, skin warm with blood, away from his stomach and got one foot under him. “Thank you,” he said, looking back just in time to see a healing scroll, the one he’d given up at the start of the quest, vanish from Aloth’s hands. 

"Don’t mention it,” Aloth said, hoisting Dannith’s grimoire back up.

The leader had pushed Edér slightly back, though Dannith attributed this mostly to the fact that Edér’s attention seemed divided by what had just happened. Regardless, Edér was in melee with his previous opponent as well as another who seemed to have appeared in the confusion. Kana’s skeletons were still assisting Pallegina, but cracks were starting to form in one and the other was missing an arm and part of its skull. Once they were gone, Edér would be the only barrier left between the bandits and the party’s ranged fighters. And there was still at least one person behind them, being held off by Itumaak and Sagani.

This also, of course, meant that most of the enemies were gathered together with no kith allies in their midst. The hazy sunlight that pierced the tree canopy and the jagged, golden-brown fragments of leaves at Dannith’s feet served as a reminder that _fireball _was too risky—too likely to ignite the dry, fall foliage. But if one could summon a _cold _flame…

Just then, Pallegina caught the newer, less tired bandit as he tried to break past and slamming the pommel of her sword into his stomach at the same time that Edér threw the leader prone. He fell hard on his back, and Dannith scrambled to his feet, hoping he could rush an incantation before anyone else moved too far.

He felt a little bad as he rushed to Aloth’s side, only to immediately interrupt the other wizard’s incantation by turning to a page deeper into the book. However, Aloth conceded with nothing more than a quick grunt of surprise, hefting one side of the book back into Dannith’s grip. Dannith immediately began reciting, drawing an index finger across the page to track his progress through the relatively new spell. When Aloth’s voice joined him, albeit slightly behind, it was jarring—like hearing an echo where there had been none moments ago, and Dannith’s voice faltered. But he pushed through it, hoping that one slightly mis-pronounced rune wouldn’t damage the spell’s entire structure.

With as much pride as joy, Dannith felt the spell complete and flow through his scepter into the open air. The spark that soared past Pallegina and Edér’s shoulders was, however, pale _peach_ rather than ice blue, and Dannith grit his teeth, yelling, “Watch out!” Aloth’s spell finished before the words were entirely out in the open, and the two clusters of energy floated amidst the bandits for a breathless second.

Then they exploded.

The first explosion looked, to the outside eye, like an eruption of soft, orange glitter. But Dannith watched as where the tiny, odd pellets of ice struck, their victims were scored like the most elite of fish filets, trails of crimson mixing with glittering ice that melted on contact. 

A second later, the proper effects of _Ninugauth’s Shadowflame_ eclipsed the battlefield, stopping just short of Edér’s nose as it flash froze the four remaining bandits on that side of the fight. The bitter, arcane flames flickered for a few seconds, decorating the ground at Pallegina’s feet, the tip of Edér’s sword, and a few errant leaves. The cold was dispersed with a natural breeze and the magic—ice and shadowflame both—vanished with a hiss.

Someone behind Dannith let out a garbled wheeze, as though choking, and he turned abruptly to see the asshole who’d shot him earlier drop to the ground, an arrow sticking out of his throat. He turned to Sagani, who shrugged.

“I figured we’d given up on the _not killing_ thing,” she said, jerking her head towards the other side of the fight.

“Yes, it does seem a rather… moot point,” Kana agreed, scratching his temple as he surveyed the remains of the other seven bodies. Pallegina moved towards the leader, unbuckling his pack and beginning to rifle through it with Edér’s help, the latter still stealing glances between the ground in front of him and the people responsible.

Neither Aloth nor Dannith seemed to know what to say for a long moment. Dannith stared at the forest in front of him while Aloth kept his eyes on the grimoire until, finally, curiosity got the better of one. Aloth looked up, still gripping the tome as he asked, “_What_ in the name of Berath did you _do?_”

Dannith laughed shakily. “I have—I have no idea, I just—when you started reciting the spell, I think I slipped through part of the aspect sigil and—” A thought struck him like a bullet, and he pulled the book back into his own hands, kneeling down and trying to pull out a quill in the same motion. It took three tries to do so smoothly, hands shaking with such excitement “I need to write this down,” he gasped.

“_Dannith’s Dazzling Ice Storm_,” Aloth quipped lightly, smoothing down his robes and settling his wand back onto his belt. “It certainly has some appeal.”

“Hey, Aloth,” Edér called suddenly in that very slow, pleased way of his. “Found your magic book.”

The sound of footsteps rushing away tapped lightly through Dannith’s ears as he hurried to notate the rune he had accidentally discovered, possibly even _created_, before it fled his mind like the post-battle adrenaline was starting to. His side ached sporadically now, and his muscles were beginning to feel the effects of a rushed two-hour trek through uneven terrain.

But, he thought as he finished sketching the alteration to the spell and looked over to where Aloth was closing his own grimoire with a relieved smile, it was worth it.

“Are you alright, Watcher?” A voice like a too-large blanket settled over Dannith, and he looked up to see Kana peering down at him with concern. “That wound looked pretty bad.”

“I’ll live,” Dannith said, offering a smile but making no attempt to stand up. “Though, I would like to rest before we get into any more fights.”

A smaller, darker figure crowded into the edge of his vision, blocking out the buttery hues of the tree canopy with her blue coat and furs. Sagani smiled and offered him a hand. “You know, Watcher,” she said, “if you’re going to go around inventing new spells like this, maybe you and Aloth should share a grimoire more often.”

Dannith nearly snorted as he grabbed Sagani’s arm (and Kana’s, after a second) and pulled himself to his feet. “I don’t think that would work out,” he said, glancing over as the other half of the party started to approach. Aloth was speaking casually to Pallegina as they walked, but both his arms were wrapped around his grimoire, tucking it protectively to his chest. Even for the purpose of science, asking another wizard to give up their spellbook…

Well, it wasn’t something he’d ever invite on himself, which spoke volumes enough. But he didn’t say so aloud, instead choosing to caution his friends. “Next time, if I make a mistake, it might kill all of us. We just got lucky this time.”

“It seems, Watcher, like you often do,” Kana said, resting a hand on Dannith’s shoulder. “Often enough that I can certainly weave interesting stories about you.”

“Thanks, I think,” said Dannith, unhooking a compass from his belt. He had a good idea of where they were, but it never hurt to double check. 

“Do not think flattering the Watcher is going to get you out of cleaning the fountain when we return to Caed Nua, my friend,” Pallegina said, somehow managing to betray neither a trace of favor or animosity, only foreboding. “This delay could have been entirely avoided had you paid more attention.”

Kana’s apologies faded into the background as Dannith and Sagani confirmed their direction of travel and started to lead the party back towards their original course. Dannith blamed this more on the timbre of Kana’s voice than the topic of conversation.

Eventually, he dropped back in the marching order until Aloth was walking alongside him. The recovered grimoire was now safely alongside the rest of Aloth’s equipment as normal, but the elf kept one hand on it, fingers drumming along the spine in an enigmatic sequence. Dannith glanced pointedly towards it.

“Is it alright? Everything in order?” he asked quietly.

Aloth started slightly but followed Dannith’s gaze and quickly recovered. “Oh, surprisingly, yes,” he said. “The only damage was cosmetic, which is inconvenient, but… well. It still functions perfectly.”

“Good.” Dannith nodded. “That’s good.” And it was, but awkward silence that seemed to grow from his statements drew another confession out of him. “I don’t know what I’d do if something serious happened to mine.”

“The same thing you usually do, I imagine,” Aloth said, but he wasn’t looking at Dannith, eyes fixed again on some phantom in the distance. A wistful lilt slipped into the words as Aloth stilled his drumming fingers and clasped the book protectively instead. “You’d adapt. Find some way to keep going until you figured out a satisfactory solution.”

Dannith blinked, continuing to stare out ahead at the backs of their companions. “I suppose that’s the only logical choice,” he agreed.

A wide, teasing smile pulled at Aloth’s lips. “Of course,” he said, straightening his shoulders even further in a caricature of professionalism. Dannith couldn’t help but laugh.


End file.
